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Ex-deputy pleads guilty in sheriff's killing

August 21, 2003|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

SOMERSET, KENTUCKY — A former sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping plot the assassination of his chief political rival--an incumbent sheriff killed by a sniper at a campaign rally fish fry.

Jeff Morris, 36, pleaded guilty to complicity to commit murder and will be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years. If convicted at trial, he could have faced the death penalty.

The plea leaves one defendant in the case, Kenneth White, a campaign donor to Morris who allegedly was angered by the sheriff's anti-drug efforts. The gunman, Danny Shelley, pleaded guilty earlier.

Sheriff Sam Catron, 48, was killed April 13, 2002, after a campaign speech.